On-chain "cutting in line" basically means someone can see first, queue first, and act first.

The biggest impact isn't actually the one-off trades by whales, but those ordinary orders that think they can just press a button to execute: slippage gets eaten, the execution price worsens, or even the same transaction appears as "I bought" in your view but actually turns into "I helped others lift the sedan chair."
From a market-making perspective, this thing is like secretly moving the originally public order book psychology to the sorting layer to play with it.

Recently, the airdrop season has returned, task platforms are becoming more and more complex with anti-snipe measures, and the points system makes sniping as routine as clocking in at work... then a bunch of people interact at the same second, and MEV bots are even happier.
Do you call that fair? I don't want to pretend to be a saint either, but seeing everyone hustle just to pay the "queue-jumping fee" still kind of annoys me.
Anyway, I now prefer to be a bit slower, do it in batches, and avoid rushing during hot periods—one needle not chasing won't kill me.